Chadwick continues relentless march to third W Series crown after Silverstone victory

Jamie Chadwick continued on her seemingly relentless march to a third successive W Series crown after claiming her first Silverstone victory.

The foundations were laid on the Friday as the Jenner Racing driver claimed her third straight pole position, a commanding two tenths ahead of Emma Kimiläinen with compatriot Abbi Pulling lining up third on the grid.

And the intensity did not let up come race day, Chadwick beating her rivals into the first corner off the lights en route to a commanding 19 second lights-to-flag victory.

“It feels really good to win here and that’s a monkey off my back having not won a W Series race in Britain before today,” commented Chadwick on the official W Series press release after her race win.

“I’m super happy with that drive. I got a bit nervy with the rain at one point but managed to maintain a good gap to the guys fighting behind me which was nice. I was really hungry coming into this weekend as this is the race all of the British drivers want to win, so it means a hell of a lot.”

With Kimiläinen and Pulling also maintaining their grid positions to the chequered flag, an unusually incident free race means that Chadwick has now won the opening four races of the 2022 W Series season and sixth on the bounce since the end of 2021.

It also means that she extends her lead at the top of the championship standings to 47 points over third-placed Pulling as the series moves on to Le Castellet, France on 22-23 July.

“I’m really happy to get a podium on home soil and it feels great to do it in front of a huge crowd at Silverstone,” added Pulling. “It wasn’t the start I expected and I struggled off the line, but I slowly progressed through and put pressure on Emma [Kimiläinen] at the end. I felt I had the pace throughout the whole race, and it was just a case of getting past people.

“Next time, I’ll learn for qualifying and not make any mistakes there so I can start further up the grid. I’m looking forward to France next – I like the circuit at Paul Ricard and it should be a great race.”

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Fraser Masefield

Sports news and features writer, web editor and author.